"Your move," Mamoru prodded.

"I'm thinking!" Usagi hissed. She grabbed a piece and looked at carefully. She moved it one space forward. Mamoru told her that it didn't move like that. With a huff, Usagi snapped, "How does it move then?"

Mamoru explained, "Diagonal."

She begrudgingly moved her piece. Mamoru's . . . horse-thingy (?) . . . came and captured it. She pouted. How was she supposed to win if she didn't even know how to play? Usagi took a pawn and tried to tempt him to move this one piece out. He quickly took a bishop and captured that one as well.

"This doesn't make any sense!" whined Usagi.

He said, "Of course it does. You just aren't thinking hard enough." And with that, he grabbed his queen, moving her into a spot Usagi had left wide open. "Check."

Usagi jumped. "What?" She still wasn't sure what that meant, so she moved the piece that looked the most important. Mamoru moved his queen once again.

"Checkmate."

Usagi slumped down into her chair for a moment. Mamoru patted her knee. Finally, when her pride had recovered enough, she asked, "How did you even win? I don't understand this game!"

"Simple. I captured your king."

Usagi blinked. She pressed a wrinkle in her skirt down, swung her feet, which didn't quite hit the floor, and contemplated this for a moment. Mamoru patiently waited for it to sink in. Usagi leaned forward and said, "Well, that doesn't make sense at all. You are my king, and if anyone takes you, they sure as heck won't win."

Her husband laughed. She was too cute. "No," he replied, "the game piece. It's the way the game works. When one side captures the other's king, they win."

"So, kind of like capture the flag?" wondered the twenty-year-old girl. Mamoru bit his lip.

"Kind of . . . ."

Usagi nodded. "So why isn't it if the queen is captured? Aren't women just as powerful as men?" She dared him to say otherwise.

"Usako . . . ," he groaned. "Usako, the queen is essentially the most powerful piece on the board. She can move anywhere as long as there's a path for her, and she basically protects the king. The kind is more of a . . . power symbol in the game. A weak spot. If you lose your queen, you're almost guaranteed to lose the game."

"You know it," she quipped. She stood up from her side of the board and went to sit on Mamoru's lap. "Happy birthday, Mamo-chan."

He hummed as he rested his head between her buns. "Why did you want to learn to play chess, anyway?"

"Well . . . ." Usagi blushed. "It's your birthday. You like chess a lot, and I thought if I learned, it could be something we could do together. So, it was like a little mini birthday present to you."

Mamoru wrapped his arms around her waist. "You already got me a great mini birthday present."

"Really?" she exclaimed.

"A new chess set." Mamoru gently slid out from underneath her and kissed her lips. Then, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. "And I'm already winning. I've captured the queen."

She could hardly scold him, the way she was laughing. "Mamo-chan . . . !"

Hours later, Usagi sat at her vanity. She glanced to her husband and said, "I won. I got the king."

Well, there was no plot to this. I never saw Usagi as the type to play chess or Mamoru either, but I'm probably biased. I hate chess and I'm terrible at it. If there are any mistakes explaining the game, you can let me know. I tried checking, but I'm still not sure. Like I said, I'm bad at chess.